


The Game of War

by theshire60



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Across the world, Angst, Dark Magic, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Psychological, War is a game of hearts and minds, first fic, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-09-01 12:34:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16765255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshire60/pseuds/theshire60
Summary: Gellert Grindelwald is a master of literal, emotional and psychological warfare. As an tactician knows when one plan falters one must adapt. New York has provided a new set of game pieces and Gellert is eager to test out and sway his new objects of interest. Will they fail, be swayed, resist or even take over the game. After all what is the greater good...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi to anyone reading this. This is my first fic and I would be really grateful if you could comment positively or negatively so I can improve my writing and characterisation. I hope this will be a long fiction (over 100K min as long as nothing goes wrong) however I will admit to struggling with planning and prefer to write off the cusp. If you think I am completely OCing my characters without showing any development that leads to such changes or that I am making them into Mary-Sues please let me know. I have altered the cannon pairing however this is provisional depending on how the story and characters develop. I will be constantly self-editing as I find that I catch more mistakes that way. If a new chapter has missing words or I've mixed up my words please be patient and I will try to correct mistakes as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy.

Prologue

Gellert Grindelward swirled the amber liquid in his glass before taking a sip while starring into the fire and contemplating his failure in New York. No, failure was not a term Grindelwald would accept. New York had been a learning curve. While his chief objective in obtaining the destructive power of an Obscurus had admittedly been unsuccessful he was oddly unphased. All that power in a single needy boy desperate for affection, no, far too unpredictable and dangerous. A weapon that could turn on its master.

No, New York had instead opened his eye to a whole new set of potential game pieces. Percival Graves, the youngest wizard in MACUSA history to become Director of Magical Security and Head of the DMLE had taken significantly more of Grindelwald’s skill and power to subdue than he had expected especially considering that he had ambushed the man. A quick glimpse into the man’s mind had confirmed the man’s power and magical skill but had also shown his untapped potential lying in a deep well of passion and emotion that was centred on a sole female subordinate. A passion and potential trapped through Percival's near obsessive need for control and restraint.

Newt Scamander, the wayward brother of an acclaimed auror and war hero, had bested him through using his creatures with an unpredictability that render Grindelwald’s visions null. The quiet shy mannerisms of the young Englishman belied his steel spine that was only seen through his ardent defence of his beloved beasts. His emergent friendship with the Goldstein sisters and the muggle had widened his protective net and ensured that any who attacked them would be met with the man's defensively driven violence.

The eldest Goldstein, Tina, appeared on a shallow inspection to be the most straight-laced and by the book auror that MACUSA had to offer, but Grindelwald was rarely satisfied at such a cursory understanding of a potential game-piece. Her professionalism and need to impress her department had slowly been revealed to have a very different source. Grindelwald had personally seen the hurt and betrayal that the young women’s face had portrayed as he as Graves had without argument approved Picquery’s decision to demote Tina to the Wand Permit Office. Her features had not held the pain of a mentee but spoke of something deeper and more personal. Graves’ forcefully taken memories had stained interaction between the pair with a simple and barely noticeable emotional gloss but revealed no instance of action or even recognition of either parties’ awareness of the other’s attraction. Graves’s memories had, however, revealed Tina’s potential role to Grindelwald. He watched as Graves saw her slowly acclimatise to the department and with this the subtle emergence of her quick intelligence, cunning and strategizing. She had tentatively and covertly began to weave an informant web among the less violent crime classes rather than following the example of many her bullish colleagues who arrested anyone with a toe out of line simply to gain the recognition of a collar.

Her sister, Queenie, was no less of an important game piece. Her sweet voice and gentle words coating her skill of legilimency with an almost charming veneer that hid her calculating mind and her crystalized defined sense of self. Queenie’s skill had nurtured a sense of entitlement and almost possessiveness that extended to anything that she felt belonged to her; her sister, her family, her friends, her thoughts (even if they were in someone else’s head).

It was through Queenie’s need that the final, and to his opponents the most surprising, piece of the New York ensemble had presented himself; the muggle Jacob Kowalski. He was undeniably Queenie’s pillar but also provided a fresh unbiased view on the magical world and brought a down to earthiness and straightforwardness that the uptight aurors, shy magizoologist and the legilimency sometimes failed to grasp.

The corners of Grindelwald’s lip curled ever so slightly. Kowalski's very muggleness would also provide a means of discrediting the claims of his anti-muggle agenda to his opponent while it could simultaneously be used to educated the pureblood mania away from simply muggle extinction by demonstrating the potential uses of muggles.

Such an interwoven web of human interaction coiling around these four oblivious potential allies. As he relaxed and leaned his head back against the plush purple velvet of his high backed chair a single thought occupied his mind. Which thread to pull on first…


	2. Chapter 1 Put on your armour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percival is not broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope people like this. I want to get away from sheer physical violence as I think the magical and even non-magical world has much more destructive psychological weapons. Good or bad please help me improve my writing by reviewing.

Chapter 1: Put on your armour

The clean-shaven face of Percival Graves starred back at him from the ornate standing mirror that dominated the corner of the master bedroom. Percival surveyed himself critically and cautiously, the memory of the body’s visage controlled and poached by a bleached parasite slowly rising before his eyes.

No, Graves mentally snarled, enough. He is gone and this is my body, my life. 

His mental morning routine had grudgingly flexed to accept the new necessary mantra that Graves required simply to check his own appearance. It was hardly surprising however given that for his five weeks of imprisonment he hadn’t seen his own face accept as the grotesque mask of his guard. It wasn’t hard to figure out Grindelwald’s goal in removing all reflective surfaces from the smallest guest room that had Percival occupied: mirror taken, the single window plane transfigured to brick and wallpaper and even his food and drink delivered on and with wooden cutlery. 

All to make Graves’ own reflection appear as a foreign entity to him. A damn stranger to his own face…Graves wrenched his eyes away from the frowning face. Breath, breath…He smoothed the cuffs of his new shirt with a deliberate focus.

New, the idea of wearing his old used clothes made his stomach clench and the familiar fire bubbled up his throat. He had to hand it to Grindelwald, his systematic stripping away of Graves’ personal sense of identity had been masterfully carried out. Rooms, offices, jobs and titles could all be quickly reclaimed both through his and the President’s authority… but the body that was a more difficult territory. 

He picked up one of the emerald scorpion collar pins with care…this body, this face that had attacked his colleagues, aurors and president. That had sentenced one of his friend’s younger brother to death. That had nearly ensured the execution of one of his most competent aurors. Of a strong, clever, dear woman …. 

Pulling on the acromantula silk black waistcoat, Graves re-centred his thoughts. There was too much to do and no time to spend time dwelling on such frivolous thoughts and his own regrets and failings. Grindelwald certainly wouldn’t be wasting his time. 

Perceival’s return to duty had been heralded by an unsurprising amount of perceptiveness training for his obviously incompetent department. All convinced by an actor except Tina…Graves’ lips quirked slightly as he recalled Grindelwald’s particularly mood that evening…  
***************************************************************  
The door to his prison was brusque opened as Grindelwald swept in his transfigured dark eyes fixing on the prone figure on the bed. The magical binding and gag gave the senior auror little recourse for retaliation against the intrusion but the slight narrowing on his eyes and the drawing back of his lips over his teeth. Grindelwald’s wandless magic quickly wiped the disdain from Graves sent a subconscious shiver of pleasure down his back. To be denied something so fundamental as his magic was a deprivation beyond his imagining. The potion that Grindelwald poured down his unresisting throat cut him off from accessing his own magic that seethed under his skin and denied him reaching out to caress the ancestral magic imbued into his houses structure. Grindelwald’s magic while not consciously wanted was like water after a drought in the desert. 

Grindelwald floated Percival’s body into one of the two cars set opposite each other by the fire place. Ah so it was to another of those evenings, Percival internally grimaced. His jailor did so love his civilities, a gentleman visionary. Visionary, terrorist, freedom fighter. 

“Tell me about Tina Goldstein, Percival”, started his double, as he poured out two tumblers of whiskey and returned the use of Percival’s arms to him.  
Experience led Graves to accepting the drink, carefully trying to squelch down the raising panic that slammed into him as that name was spoken by Grindelwald. 

“Why? She’s just one of my aurors.”

Grindelwald’s eyes snapped to his face. 

“She’s starting to suspect something. Perhaps she’s not aware yet but she’s watching me.”

“She’s good”, Percival tried to keep his voice steady and detached but the intensity of Grindelwald’s gaze suggested that he had failed. 

“Too good, perhaps I should…”

“No. Don’t, I..”, Percival knuckles went white around the tumbler. No point denying it. If he touches her I’ll…

“Calm yourself, my boy.” Grindelwald smile coolly and relaxed back into his seat. He’d already won this verbal sparring in the opening sally and he knew it. “I have no desire to get rid of her permanently, she far too interesting for that. I don’t even think she realises her power, does she? I wonder, who it was that made her insistent on following the rules?”  
Percival kept his eyes on his opponent. No need to give him any more ammunition. Grindelwald simply raised a slowly blanching eyebrow. The usual relief of seeing his own face fade from the body of the other was muted given the current circumstance. 

Grindelwald sighed and set his empty tumbler on the table by his chair. With deliberate exactness he brought out the long knobbly wand and twirled it between his fingers. Percival stiffened immediately and unconsciously leaned backwards. 

“I am sorry, my dear fellow, but it is necessary. If you just relaxed and stopped fighting, the pain would be barely noticeable”. 

Percival’s eyes flared with anger before the fear quenched it. With a flick of the wand the tumbler in Percival’s hand became instant hot and he dropped it onto the oriental rug as the familiar routine began. Forced to his knees into of Grindelwald he was, as ever, absurdly grateful that the next violation was never committed while the man wore his own face.  
The tip of the wand was placed to his temple. Those odd eyes peered into Percival’s with an oddly gentle look. Pain erupted, and the world swirled out of sight into an array of colours as the force of Grindelwald’s mind power through the already shattered fortress of the auror’s mind. Snippets of memory; running in the grounds at Ilvermorny with his friends, his mother lifting the toddler him up and laughing, dodging purple and green curses in a dark room while he shouted to other aurors,…The images finally began to slowed down as Grindelwald directed the flow of memories. Tina’s face flashed into view; watching her in the training scheme, her smartly dressed and trying to control her joy as she with her class her sworn in to an investigator role, then as a slightly older version as promoted to her dream, Tina nervously piping up with her first observation in a debriefing, her slowly growing confidence and her maturing beauty…

No, not her please, Percival tried to resist, tried to keep his memories that he cared about Tina secret but…

Tina smiling at him unreservedly as they make a break in finding the base of operation of a smuggling ring of untested and counterfeited branded brooms, her sparkling eyes lit with amusement at his imitation of Franklin from accounting, her tired shared grimace with him as he signalled for her sister Queenie Goldstein to get a round of coffee for everyone as it’s be another long night pouring over records.

Grindelwald’s mental rumbling slammed to a halt. The cold fingers began to grab at associations and connections Percival’s own study of the women had revealed. Orphaned by dragon-pox, responsible for her younger sister at only fourteen, a sister starting her first year and burdened with a skill that might isolate her from making friends … Perceval reading Tina’s school and training records and noting extreme empathy towards vulnerable children possibly as a result on her own experience. Grindelwald raked further into his mind and Percival beyond to cry out …

….Tina’s barely restrained anger at the Mattahan no-maj child-traffickers they had come across by accident during a missing maj child case…Percival’s concern as she furiously works to find a way to ensure that the children were returned to the authorities…

Percival’s fell to his hands, shaking and gasping as nausea and horror wrecked his frame. Grindelwald leaned back into the hands as the man at his feet shuddered. Slowly Percival began to lift himself up, collapsing into the chair, as sweat trickled down his face. 

“Children,”, the single softly spoken word refocused Percival’s attention. “Hurt children. Abused children.”

****************************************************************************  
Percival jerked backwards. He starred at his blanched face in the mirror. His weakness had led to Tina’s demotion, had set her on the path to attacking the Second Salem Church, to avenging the children…to stop the beatings.

Grindelwald-Graves directed Tina and two other aurors to shadowing potentially threatening no-maj societies knowing that Tina’s dedication to duty would inevitably lead to her discovering the abuse. Grindelwald hidden in the bank’s shadow had only needed to cast a simple compulsion charm for Tina to let rip her anger on the no-maj witch.  
Percival’s teeth gritted as he remembered Grindelwald’s pride in Tina’s actions and how he had presented the entire episode as a special favour “to you my boy”. Percival couldn’t untangle the bizarre mixture of anger at Tina’s demotion with the relief that she was distanced from his impersonator though that had proven to have been little use in keeping her out of harm’s way. But the very worst feeling that had arisen with Grindelwald’s news had been the horrifying sense of gratefulness towards the man. 

Enough………enough…

Percival shoved his arms into his suit jacket and buttoned it up. He had to focus, he couldn’t let that man continue to control him. He was NOT going to be grateful to that man. He had been weak, he needed to focus, to train, to expand his power, to get stronger, to protect his aurors, his president, his country, his Ti.…

Percival Graves picked up his coat and scarf and sharply turned from the mirror. This was his face, his body, his identity….

Unknown to the departing director a single emerald scorpion collar-pin gleamed on the rosewood trinket tray.

**********************************************************************************  
Grindelwald’s heterochromia eyes analysed the magical photograph. It pleased him immensely that his boy had started to regain his confidence, his purpose. Outward appearances would provide a wealth of information if only a person paid such close attention. After four weeks of hospital check-ups, debriefing and security testing his little warrior was finally beginning to redon his armour. The ‘dark lord’ caressed the picture fondly. Broken toys were dull…. 

His eyes quickly narrowed on a single point. An absent scorpion, his dented toy soldier was returning to the game…


	3. Chapter Two: Use your resources...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What to do with Jacob?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay had a really bad cold and just couldn't concentrate... Hope you guys enjoy this...As always please leave feedback

Chapter 2: Use your resources…

The amethyst broach pinned into Madame President Seraphina Picquery’s turban gleamed as its owner raised her head from the report to assess the three-people sitting in front of her. 

“Mr Scamander I still don’t completely follow your explanation as to why the potion you provided hasn’t worked on Mr Kowalski and why we can’t just obliviate him now.”

“Well you see..,” the man in the blue coat shifted awkwardly in his seat as he tried to untangle his thoughts into a reasonably respectful explanation that fell on the thin line of being informative enough without being too technical or as his brother put it bordering the obsessional. “…the venom of the swooping evil doesn’t produce a complete obliviation but instead takes away recent bad memories…Jac…Mr Kowalski must have umm…enjoyed his experiences rather than..” the man’s mumbled words tailed off as he look to the anxious man sitting beside him. Jacob Kowalski’s nails bite into his palms as he resisted the urge to look away from the panel of witches and wizards and at the magizoologist.

“So this is unlikely to happen to any of the other no-majs?” Picquery seemed to be asking for confirmation rather than answering an unknown variable.

“I doubt that any of the other muggles, sorry no-majs, will remember. Perhaps children, I ca-can’t say for def…”

“Mr Miller has your department noticed any unusual activities or mutterings?”

The slightly balding Head of the Department of No-maj Regulation twitched his greying moustache as he shook his head. 

“No Madame President as far as we have been able to determine Mr Kowalski is the only no-maj to be showing resistance though,” his eyes crinkled slightly “I understand that some of our junior aurors struggled to give comprehensive statements about the incident”.

While two of the three representatives of Congress bristled at the supposed slur in the comparison, Graves tilted his head across the semi-circle table at his colleague a wry smile flickered across his face before it returned to its impassive visage. 

“So we simply obliviate this one and return to normal,” stated the dismissive voice of the Maine Representative already shuffling his papers ready for the next business of the day. 

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Congressman Winters,” Picquery snapped. Her irritation at the man’s attitude obvious even to Newt. “If it was I’d have hardly added it to the agenda. The healers at St Martha and our Unspeakable have all stated grave concerns… ‘ah about the effect of wand or potion based obliviation on the subject’s mental, emotional and physical state’”.

“And?”

Sweat trickled slowly down Jacob’s neck as he felt a shiver of fear at the man’s cold question. He wiped his sweaty palms on his suit-trouser legs as his mind sent out a silent plea. Please don’t let this happen, I don’t wanna forget again. I can’t forget …God, please I love her...

The Representative of Oregon raised her eyebrows in a deliberately practiced motion. “I hardly think that attitude towards the no-maj community is particular helpful, especially given recent events. Such lack of care could be taken as a gesture of support towards Grindelwald’s policy rather than a stand against him.”

“It has nothing to do with Grindelwald,” snarled Winters “Rappaport law states that no no-maj can know of our existence for fear of exposure. So, unless you have another suggestion Cecilia...”

The Cecilia sniffed and turned to the President. “What makes Mr..” Her blue eyes settled on Jacob questioningly and it took him a second or two before he processed the implied question.

“Kowalski. Jacob Kowalski, ma’am.”

“...Mr Kowalski the exception?”

“Its-its because Mr Kowalski has a ver-very unusual reaction to certain magical ingredients,” Newt stumbled “When my murtlap bite Jacob, had one of the most severe reactions I’ve seen with the possible exception of wizard in ….er…anyway I-I mean that the murtlap poison in his system s-seems to have reacted with the swooping evil’s venom that Frank disper…that was used in the mass oblivaition. Any magic that has a mental effect on Jac-Mr Kowalski…may ah have the potential to lead to ah psychosis or death…Its partly because these particular venoms have rarely ever effect the same person, as the creatures live on separate continent and the swooping evil rarely leaves its prey alive enough to cons….”

“Mr Scamander,” interrupted Picquery, “is this a permeant side-effect?”

Newt ducked his head slightly at the reprimand and tried to refocus his mind away from the new area of research that Jacob’s situation had revealed to the present. Come on, focus for Jacob. 

“I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you Madame President. It-t is possible that over time the effect may change but this has never been studied before and I couldn’t give a timeframe.”

“This is ridiculous”, Winters growled dismissing Newt with a contemptuous look, “we can’t ignore the risk it prevents. Surely on balance he must be dealt with”.

“And what would be your suggestion, Congressman?” Picquery didn’t even give the man time to answer before powering on “I cannot support any policy that would make us appear to support Grindelwald and to our European counterparts, and especially to the British Ministery, an act of intentional government harm to a no-maj could seriously damage our relations and reputation. Congressman, your state alone has upcoming potions promotions in France and with the goblins beginning to fluctuate gold-galleon content due to forecasts on the no-maj economy we can’t afford to damage our international relationships”.

Graves leaned forward and intently starred at the Congressman. “It would certainly infuriate many if we allowed Grindelwald’s attempts to set us against the no-majs succeed”, the darkly implied especially me was palpable and hung heavily in the room. 

Winters stilled in response. Perceval Graves was one if not the most magically powerful man in America and his family’s lineage stretched back to the first twelve and had investments everywhere. Not a man to make an enemy of unless one was sure of victory. The Congressmen straightened in the chair, gritted his teeth then took a calming breath. 

This argument was lost, so damage control was needed.

“Director Graves, please do not think that I in anyway support Grindelwald or his movement but the point still remains that a no-maj has knowledge of us.”

“Perhaps I have a solution, even if only temporary while the side-effects are studied,” started Mr Miller awaiting approval from the chair to continue. “If nothing else events in New York have highlighted our, and especially my department’s, inability to conceal and divert large magical incidents from no-majs. While we managed to cover the early instances as gas leaks, reports show that large numbers of no-majs were beginning to suspect a deception and this gave groups such as that Second Salem Church a more prominent voice. I mean before the third incident the group was hardly known and ranked as harmless yet my team’s review of events show that just prior to the subway the leader was given the opportunity to speak to the editor/owner of a national newspaper. He was the father of that no-maj, that was killed, and while he threw the story out until his son’s death, the potential was there for a national secrecy breach if he’d run the story. We wouldn’t even have been aware until copies were half way across the country.”

A tense quiet filled the room. 

“Your suggestion, Mr Miller?” 

“We employ Mr Kowalski as a consultant to my department”.

“W-what?” Winters spluttered in indignation. 

“Well, Mr Kowalski cannot at present be oblivated without causing potential damage to both to him, this ministry and possibly even the wider economy. The only possible solution is that he remains in our care until obliviation is possible,” Mr Miller’s calm voice laid out the facts. The blotchy red hue to Congressman Winters’ face slowly began to fade as he listened. “I do not, however, see why Mr Kowalski’s detainment should be unproductive or uncomfortable. If we simple throw this man into cell it could still damage our international reputation. Mr Kowalski, as I have understood it has made friends with some of our employee, even an auror, is that not correct Director Graves?”

Graves inclined his head, amusement glittering in his dark eyes. 

“Perhaps Mr Kowalski could spend his time with us under their care. Put him and these employees in one of our safehouses, employ him to show us where we made mistakes and how we can ensure that if another major incident happens we are able to maintain our secrecy. We can’t let Mr Kowalski leave without supervision, but we could let him remain in relative comfort while also using him as a resource”.

From the moment the suggestion of housing with Queenie and Tina was brought up Jacob had started vicariously nodding his head. His eyes were wide and kept glancing between the parties deciding his fate. His hope…

Madame Picquery’s face clearly showed that she was seriously contemplating the idea. “Would Auror Goldstein be available for this assignment?”

“Wasn’t she the one that was demoted over a muggle attack?” Graves gritted his teeth as Congressman Issani spoke up for the first time. 

“Yes, though it was determined that she was compelled by Grindelwald. I must also stress that Auror Goldstein was specifically targeted by Grindelwald as a potential threat which is surely evidence of her skill and competency.” Graves struggled to keep the internal snarl out of his voice. 

“Full-time supervision?” clarified Winters his focus clearly on the no-maj problem. 

Madame President looked directly at Jacob. “Would you be able to follow such restrictions, Mr Kowalski? I understand that constant supervis..”

“Yep, no problem. Would follow them to the letter, ma’am,” Jacob interrupted unable to restrain himself. 

Picquery’s painted lips curled in a subtle smile. “Well, I think that settles matters. For now,” she quickly amended preventing Winters’ interruption. “We’ll reconsider matters in three months’ time. Mr Scamander and Mr Kowalski you are dismissed. Director Graves, Mr Miller you are excused for the rest of this meeting. Please sort out Mr Kowalski’s arrangements and submit your reports on the security arrangements before the end of the day”.

*********************************************************************************  
Tina leaned against the chiselled grey wall and watched the pink cade figure of her sister pace. Periodically Queenie paused ringing her hands with nerves to stare at the door which Newt and Jacob had been summoned through an hour before. Tina sighed sadly, she hated feeling helpless. It was part of the reason that she’d gravitated towards magical enforcement; the need to protect, to comfort, to fight. There were no words or thoughts that would be able to reassure her little sister. She’d tried. 

The rooms used by MACUSA for its most confidential and important meetings were enveloped by centuries worth off warding and magically enchantments preventing any external surveillance. Queenie had shuddered as her friends had crossed the threshold and their thought-voices faded from her mind. It was as if they didn’t exist, as if they had vanished or died. Her mind screamed in protest; how could people manage, how could Tina manage without knowing, with this silence… 

Not that it really was ever silent in Queenie’s mind. As a child the voices had been overwhelming and only Tina’s quick mind and insistence that Queenie focus on her thought-voice that had allowed Queenie to remain sane, to distinguish her own thoughts from those of others. As she had grown she’d learned through trial and error how to mute the numerous voices and how select a single or multiple voice threads to focus upon. Her first years exams at Ilvermorny, before her skill became common knowledge, had been easy as she simply stole answers and theories from the minds of her more studious fellows. The true shock had been with the new transfiguration teacher in her third year for when she had attempt to glimpse his thoughts about a piece of recent homework she was confronted with a mental wall. Her pokes and prods had yielded no-entry but the mental equivalent of a bat slammed against her mind. The resulting lecture on mental invasion and defence had been informative even if it was humiliating. From that moment onwards Queenie had adapted her mental approach testing to check for defences before settling into a person’s mental flow. While few witches and wizards had the mental strength or control to achieve occlumency even fewer had learnt the skill and Queenie had trained herself to avoid even grazing those minds. It was hardly surpring that she’d not realised Grindelwald’s deception…

The door was opened, and the warm cadence of Jacob and Newt’s thought-voices flowed into her mind and she absorbed it like a precious drop of water in a desert. 

********************************************************************************   
Grindelwald’s tapped his fingers on his wand to a tune only he could hear. His little children all thought they were safe; blissfully foolishly happy as if fate or mere luck had kept them all together. His spy had sent the memory of the meeting and had even provided details on the official arrangements. He deserved a gift; such dedication needed fostering until the little fool lost his usefulness…


	4. Chapter Three: Two birds and one stone

Chapter 3: Two birds and one stone 

Jacob starred in a mixture of bemusement and sympathy as Tina slumped into the chair across from him with a groan on exhaustion. 

“You ok Tina?,” he asked gently as Queenie pushed a piled lunch tray and cup of constant temperature coffee across the table to her sister. Weak autumnal sunlight danced on the table that the three had claimed as their own since Jacob had become the first ever non-maj MACUSA employee elven days earlier. It was unusual how the window alcove on floor fifteen’s cafeteria had become a necessary safe-haven for the three friends. Jacob’s employment had intended to be kept as a low-key affair and consequentially had spread throughout the building like a wild-fire; he had become a minor celebrity and the two women as his de facto guardians had also become subjects of renewed interest to the gossip mongers. 

Jacob still couldn’t understand why he was viewed with such curiosity when this was how he felt about the wizarding world and its occupants. Most of the curiosity had been wary but not necessarily unfriendly. Congressman Winters’ habit of watching him and the girls leave for the safehouse each evening always dampened the growing feeling of acceptance and comfort that the members of Jacob’s department inspire. The icy disdain and distrust in his eyes cooled the warmth left by the smiles of Timothy Millers and his desk partner Anne; the tightening of those black leather gloved fingers on the gleaming silver knob of the polished black cane dampened the residual amusement of whatever awful no-maj joke that Peters had taken to cheerful yelling after him as he followed Queenie out of the office to collect Tina. 

Tina groaned as she snatched at the cup with a desperate need. She was exhausted. Every bone, every joint, every bloody muscle in her body ached. 

“Still no let up?” Queenie sympathised as gently smiled at the litany of her sister’s internally voiced groans and whimpers that slugged their way into her mind. 

“Nope.”

“Well you can’t blame him, Teenie.”  
“I know,” Tina sighed as she accepted cutlery from Jacob with a warm but tired smile. “Still doesn’t stop me feeling like I’ve lost five rounds with Newt’s augury.”

She really couldn’t blame Graves at all. The entirety of the department was an emotional keg; guilt, fury and shame were turning out to be great motivators for aurors. Gibson, Tina’s immediate team leader, had been running their six-man team through daily battle-simulations and one-to-one combat duelling; Gibson wasn’t even the most intensive team leader. Tina had felt a guilty vindictive jab of pleasure every time Harrison and Byrne shuffling in pain past her desk at the speed of arthritic eighty-year olds after having undergone Clara Simpson’s furious training sessions. Tina had been on the receiving end of their misogynistic taunts and sneers for months following her demotion but now Tina’s shared smirk to Clara as they enter the training salles caused the men to break in to a sweat in panic. 

“Try the Erumpent” Jacob chipped in. Tina grinned in amusement at the memory of the beast straining to mate with the terrified man. She dug into her food with gusto. 

“How’s your day been?” Tina asked her sister after swallowing a mouthful of mashed potato. 

“You know. Sam’s decided that he wants Julie and Mr Harris is freaking out about his daughter’s new beau.” Queenie lowered her voice and leaned towards Tina. “He’s a no-maj and she’s refusing to drop him.”

Jacob blew out a gush of air in quiet empathy but Queenie’s eyes glittered with glee. Her campaign to ensure that Jacob was allowed to remain with her if a means of memory-removal was discovered or the circumstances changed was still in its primary phase of information gathering. 

“Queenie,” growled Tina in warning. While she had no problem with Queenie walking out with Jacob it still gave her a stone in her stomach. What if they did find a way to oblivate Jacob? What about Queenie? How would she cope? Tina knew without doubt that her sister was determined to have Jacob and she dreaded what she might have to do to protect the couple. And she knew that she would protect them.

“I’m just saying Teenie.”

Tina sighed and looked back to her food. Jacob placed a hand on his paramours back and gave her a slightly reprimanding look and launched into telling the girls about Anne’s latest inventive comebacks to Peters attempts at chatting her up. 

“He said the cheesiest line this morning “Anne your legs must be tired cos they’ve been running through my mind all-night” and Anne immediate snapped “That it was wonderful all those wide-open spaces”’. Tina snorted a laugh shadowing Queenie’s tinkling giggles. “I mean seriously those two are driving me insane and I’ve only been dealing with it for a week. God knows how Claude and joseph haven’t locked them in a room or somethin. He just-”

“Sorry to interrupt,” a young man in a rumpled suit shifted slightly as he came to stand at the table. “Mr Graves asked that both Miss Goldsteins report to his office at two.”

Queenie’s body immediately tensed as her mind began to gallop with worries. She spread out the tendracles of her mind to trace down the whisper of the messenger’s mind-voice and then increased the volume. 

They look so ordinary how did they get Grindelwald. Wow, I see what Joe means the blonde’s a real stunner, I’d love to…

Queenie instantly muted him again with an internal shudder, she didn’t need to hear. Her skin began to crawl with disgust and she reached on instinct for the cleansing warmth of Tina and Jacob’s mind. Jacob was like the warmth of a bakery sweet, tasty and infused with a homely warmth and Tina was her mental comfort blanket; both now had a permanent corner in the back of mind. She tuned up Tina’s voice from its usual cadence. Probably just wants to check on the housing situation. Bloody Winters probably demanded a damn report. Graves need to eat more, he’s looking stressed..

Queenie hid a smile at her sister’s preoccupation as she brusquely dismissed the gawking idiot. Did Tina really think she didn’t know how she felt about her boss? To be fair her sister was the master of self-blindness. 

Well, she thought with a wicked smile obscured by her cup of coffee, might as well make right on my resolution and Graves is probably gonna be the hardest mind to get. Hit two birds with one stone… 

*************************************************************

Percival Graves leaned over the monthly report from the Chicago auror office trying to stop the letters from blurring into a mass of squirming illegible worms. His head was killing him; his eyes throbbing. He groaned exhaustedly and threw himself away from the desk. This cannot be happening. Why can’t I damn well focus. God this sodding headache…   
He’d never had this lack of concentration before; never had this weakness. Another unseen scar of Grindelwald’s care. At least this one might be fixable, he grimaced at the knowledge of what he had to do though.

A sharp knock at door dragged him back from his self-pity and he ready himself for what was needed. “Come,” he affected a position of intense focus on the document as a pair of sharp heeled shoes and the softer tap of the more sensible heels crossed the floorboards to stop in front of his desk. After a deliberate pause he raised his head to look at the two sisters. 

“Ah Miss Goldstein, Tina, please take a seat”, he gestured towards the seats careless while observing the pair. Tina’s usual humility and discomfort in being observed was obvious in the way she settled cautiously into the chair and her fingers curled into her blue over jacket. It was almost endearing given that he’d seen the young women’s fierce power, skill and nature in the scenario training.

“Firstly, I just want to check that everything’s alright at the house. No security breaches or problems”. He paused for the softly spoken reassurance he knew he’d receive from his auror before opening the conversation up to Queenie. “Has Mr Kowalski had any difficultly settling in with his department? Or mentioned any problems working here?”

“No sir, I mean he hasn’t said anything sir. What has been sa..” Queenie’s voice was anxious with distress as she leaned forward. 

It was like a knife spearing Graves mind and he scrunched up his eyes in pain. Sharp agony flared as the rumble of his defensives shifted and he instinctively thrashed out. A sharp hiss immediate indicated his success and he slammed forward chasing the intruder. So many voices twirled around his mind and though quiet the ciphony of beings was overwhelming until a sense of terror and pain overpowered him like a tsunami. 

“Queenie,” a sharp cry from a familiar voice threw him back into his body and he looked around in a numb shock to see Tina crouching on the floor her sister’s silk clad form curled in her arms and trembling. 

“I don’t..I”, Graves struggled to think let alone formulate an apology. Or should it be a recrimination. He just couldn’t think; everything was scrambled. 

Tina’s brown eyes peered up at him. Compassion and worry circled in their depths. Percival’s body shock with relief as she turned back to her sister, rocking her gently until the sobs had quietened. Tina bite back a groan as her calf muscles loudly complained at any movement but pour her sister’s almost liquidified body into her seat. Her eyes flitted around the panelled room searching for …ah brandy. With a last glance at the two wounded she headed over and poured generous helping into two of the cut-glass goblets. 

“Here, sir”, Percival smiled to himself as Tina turned and forced the second cup into her sister’s hands. Always so practical. The alcohol warmed his throat and slowly the room’s occupants began to calm bizarrely dispersing the prior formal atmosphere. Once the colour had returned to Queenie’s cheeks and Tina’s tennis-bouncing gaze slowed, he gestured Tina back to her seat and mentally prepared himself for the next item. 

“Well…I that’s pretty much brought us to the rub of why I wanted to see you,” Graves’ lips pulled up into a dry sardonic smile. “Miss Goldstein as you..er probably gathered my mental defences have undergone some damage. Well frankly there now non-existant.”

Queenie gave a quiet snort and Percival had to admit it was probably the least lady-like gestured he’d ever seen the woman perform. Her eyes fixed on his, a question swirling in their depth, though it was Tina that actually gave voice to it. 

“So, what do you want Queenie to do?”

Always forgetting herself, he thought fondly. “I actually need both of your help. Miss Goldstein I’ve tried rebuilding my defences on my own but nothings worked. I just can’t seem to make anything stick and its just getting worse.” 

Queenie didn’t need to feel his mind to hear the frustrations and anger that was pouring off Graves in waves. Graves had always been such an independent and powerful man the fact that he had to ask for help must be crippling. If nothing else him seeking help nearly shouted how desperate he must feel. Queenie draw in a sharp breath and straightened in her chair.

“I’ll help all I can Mr Graves, but I’m not really sure what you need me to do. I’ve never helped anyone’s mind before.”

“I know that your ability is natural, but you never had any formal training?”

“Nu-uh. Just learnt how to change the volume and focus.”

“No worries, Miss Goldstein. I didn’t expect you to have, to be honest, the mental arts are hardly taught at Ilvermony. No, my thoughts were that if I helped you to hone your abilities, to learn a more focused form of legimancy that you might be able to aid me with my occulmency. It won’t be easy, and I don’t actually know if it’ll work but if you’re willing to give it a go?”

Queenie’s mind immediately began to whirl with possibilities. This was exactly what she needed and to have a teacher, a guide and a practice mind rather than trying to learn from a book was a gift she wasn’t willing to turn down. She’d been dreading having to scour the shelves of the United American Magical Library on 5th street. She was hardly a researcher and with Tina’s erratic schedule she’d be unlikely to have much time to help. Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister’s voice.

“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I don’t quite see how I can help you out?”

“Ah, well the type of legimancy that I hope to teach Miss Gold-” 

“Queenie. Please call me Queenie sir”.

Inclining his head Graves turned back to Tina. “-to Queenie is slightly darker than ah normal and there is some slight risks involved. It is prudent to have another’s mind to use as anchor. And well,” Graves shuffled the pages on his desk to avoid Tina’s eyes, “I need a competent auror I have complete faith in to be familiar with the ah the flavour of my mind and well it’s a useful skill for you have.”

Queenie pursed her lips suppressed a grin as Tina and Graves’s thoughts swirled in her head whispering the same wistful sentiments.

“Flavour?” Tina questioned as she tried to control the faint blush that had arisen by Percival’s words. 

“Its difficult to explain exactly what I me..” a sharp knock on the door interrupted Percival. Gibson’s head popped round the door. 

“Sorry boss, Jenson just flooed they need ya at Block 7”. 

Graves groaned but nodded at Gibson. Jenson was a complete moron. As they all got to their feet and Tina’s glance at her sister and Queenie answering bob of her head clearly noted a decision had been made. 

“Of course, we’ll help Mr Graves. Just let Teenie know what time and we’ll be ready for ya,” said Queenie already cognisant to Graves preferred location and more than happy to comply. At least this ways they can’t say that Jacob isn’t being supervised at home…  
With a grim smile and a quiet thank you Percival led the ladies out of his office. As he turned to collect Gibson who was waiting for him at department entrance he watched as Tina smiling at her sisters whispered comments on Travis latest crush led her sister towards her desk. 

Yes this might just work….

**********************************************************************************  
Gellert tapped his chin in thought as his mind churned over the Bulgarian problem. Well once he’s whisperer joined the dragon-blood and bone black market might not be such a problem afterall…

Gellert dipped his quill into the blood red ink he favoured. Always nice to be remembered. Dear Mr Quinn, I have need of your services. There is a young magizoologist whose work I am eager to see published. I would hope that such a favour would not be an imposition to your company especially given my knowledge about ….


End file.
